the weird stuff

Sunday, June 2, 2013

With the best of intentions, every year I take up someone's Mount TBR reading challenge and every year I fail because I get tend to get caught up in what's newly released. This year looks like more of the same, but I've finally decided I'm not going to stress over it.

This month I'm mostly exploring books that have been written in 2013, with maybe a few exceptions to ease my conscience and to have something to post for my involvement in the TBR challenge. I don't have a set-in-stone list of books, but I'm considering the following:

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, by Anthony Marra: this month's Powell's Indiespensable choice as well as the Book Passage Signed First Editions Club choice -- so you can bet at the end of the month this book will be on the book giveaway list)

Aftermath, by Rhidian Brook: a highly-rated novel found while perusing some UK readers' Goodreads shelves for ideas

Ghana Must Go, by Tanye Selasi: another Book Passage Signed First Editions Club choice (this one may also be on the giveaway list since I have two copies)

21:37, by Mariusz Czubaj: I LOVE Polish crime fiction and according to the back-cover blurb, the action in this book pushes the protagonist "into the darkest regions of the human soul," definitely my kind of novel

The Panopticon, by Jenni Fagan: a bonus book (ARC) included with this month'sIndiespensable goodies

Black Star Nairobi, by Mukuma Wa Ngugi: the second and brand spankin' new installment in a crime-fiction series published by Melville House (part of their June celebration of International Crime Month).

TransAtlantic, by Colum McCann: I just couldn't pass this one up after Let the Great World Spin, which I really liked

Betrayal, by Giorgio Scerbanenko: His A Private Venus was an amazing first-in-series crime fiction novel so obviously I have to read the second

The Professor of Truth, by James Robertson: Another I found perusing reader shelves

The Killing of Emma Gross, by Damien Seaman: I am utterly fascinated with Germany's Weimar period in which this book is set, so I have to give this one a try.

I'll probably not be able to read all of these but I'll definitely give it a try, and I'll be adding my casual-reader thoughts on Patrick McGrath's Constance, Thomas Keneally's The Daughters of Mars, and in the crime zone, Fuminori Nakamura's newest book, Evil and the Mask.

About Me

bottom line: I love to read.
I use this space to record and to talk about what I've read during the year. You won't see descriptions like "lush, lyrical prose" here ... I'm just an ordinary reader person who wants to share a love of the written word. I don't really "review" -- that's for the pros. I just offer opinions. Feel free to comment any time.